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Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Day 29: Something to be thankful for...

My lola or "Nanay Nita" as I fondly call her turned 92 years old last week. But at her age, she has far more better eye sight than me, lol! We celebrated the occasion with a simple dinner and the great grandchildren performed a surprise song number during the occasion.

As a kid, I grew up with Nanay in our ancestral home in Tacloban City. I would sleep with her sometimes and we would pray the rosary every night before going to bed, and I would remember silently wondering why we had to recite the Our Fathers and the Hail Mary's over and over again. When I would take a bath, she taught me to do a little brushing and scrubbing on the bathroom floors and walls every now and then just so dirt would not accumulate. I have been following that practice since then and I would also teach the same thing to my helpers and hopefully to my own daughter when she is old enough to take a bath on her own. My grandmother was very particular with keeping the household clean so we would sometimes walk around the house with rugs on our feet to clean the floor. Nanay taught me that it was important to know how to do simple household chores and not to depend on our house helpers to do everything for us.

She helped take care of me when Mama was not around and she has taught me so many things. I could never thank her enough for everything that she has done for me.

I am blessed to still have a living grandparent. My lolo on my fathers side passed away when I was a toddler so I do not have memories of him, only stories that papa would share with us. Both of my maternal grandparents also passed away, but I was fortunate enough to have grown up knowing them and spending time with them. I know of some friends who never got the chance to know their grandparents.

It sometimes scares me to think that there would come a time when I would no longer see her. That the time would come for Nanay to be with Tatay in heaven. I don't know if I would ever be ready for that day. So every time I visit Nanay, I would hug her really tight and kiss her. I hope she knows how much I love her and that I thank the Lord for her each and every day...

An old photo of me and my brothers with Nanay

During Nanay's birthday with Auntie Maia, Ross and Micah, with Auntie Tidad behind us :)